


Royalty and Pedigrees

by MewUniverse



Category: Princess Tutu
Genre: F/M, Fairy Tale Elements, Fairy Tale Retellings, Fakiru Week 2018, Post-Canon, Research, and fairy tales change over time, exactly one origin story please, hecking frustrating stuff, research is tough man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:07:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26654881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MewUniverse/pseuds/MewUniverse
Summary: Fakir and Autor research more into the original story of Princess Tutu to help Fakir find inspiration for Duck's future story. The bored Duck watches on, not entirely understanding the point of so much research.
Relationships: Ahiru | Duck/Fakir (Princess Tutu)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 35





	Royalty and Pedigrees

The flipping of pages sounded far too loud to the little duck that perched herself on the table beside Fakir. The typical stillness of the library around them definitely didn’t help, either. Duck tapped her bill against the table grain.  _ Thump. Thump. Thump.  _ The rhythmic noise occupied her mind for about five seconds.

“Quaaaaaack?” Duck flopped onto the table, webbed feet flat behind her.

A loud shushing sound came from someone several tables away from them. As per usual, there was Autor, sitting and reading from an entire stack of books twice the size of Fakir’s pile. Duck shot Autor a glare in return, not even caring that the glasses-wearing boy didn’t see it with how quickly he returned to reading.

“I told you I’d be here a while,” Fakir whispered, expression and voice alike distracted. “You should’ve stayed home if you’re that bored.” He flipped the page of the book he had open before him on the table..

Duck pouted, eyes narrowed at Fakir. “Quack.” As much as she would have preferred being on the lake out in the sunshine, Duck also would have been bored and lonely without Fakir, so this was her way of insisting she wouldn’t have stayed behind. Popping back onto her feet, she waddled over and peered at the book he was studying. “Qua?!” Her wings flung over her head in her shock.

Autor shushed her across the room again, but she paid him no heed. Rather, the yellow duckling focused on an illustration in the tome Fakir was reading. None other than Princess Tutu herself stood on the page, ankles crossed and her arms in roughly the third position. Well, at least one arm arched over her head, while the other hand was extended towards a cloaked figure kneeling on the ground. Duck pecked at the Tutu drawing, then gave a confused look to Fakir.

“I’ve been looking into other stories with Princess Tutu,” Fakir explained as he still spoke softly. “To find out her backstory… find material I can use.” He tapped a finger on the cloaked figure before Tutu. “This shows her in her usual role. You know what that is.” He smiled at the duck, slightly bemused but mostly a tender look in his dark eyes.

Duck nodded with a barely audible quack as she stared at the picture. Sometimes she still found it hard to believe she had once been that girl, that princess. Especially looking at her in the picture. Some elements of her were different, like how her braid hung behind her or how her dress looked longer, with a more formal skirt that extended past her knees. But the eyes and stance of the elegant princess read as Tutu completely. With an inquisitive quack, Duck returned her gaze to Fakir.

“Drosselmeyer didn’t make Tutu up completely,” Fakir explained as he turned the page. “He created another interpretation of her, expected readers to know who she was. But she was a fairytale character lost to time. I only knew her from  _ The Prince and the Raven. _ ” Duck nodded in agreement; in her time as a human, she hadn’t read much, so of course she only knew the Princess Tutu character from that story.

The stoic boy picked up a different book and flipped it open to where he had placed a bookmark. “Her origin story isn’t even consistent,” Fakir noted with irritation. “As fairytales go.” He pointed to an illustration of a queenly figure holding a swaddled infant, three winged women before her. “This story is of her as a baby born to a virtuous queen. The fairies of the land blessed her with a heart of light and a perceptive mind to best help people.” Fakir flipped to the middle of the book. “But this other story says she--” he grimaced as he quoted, “‘sprang forth from the gullet of a swan bursting with light, a blessing to the childless king and queen’ who couldn’t have kids or something like that.”

The conflicting stories confused Duck, probably moreso than they did Fakir. The way he talked about it, he was expecting multiple versions, but she didn’t get why there were so many versions. She tilted her head to the side with a small quack. Why did it even matter where Tutu came from? Didn’t her actions of helping people matter more anyways? What was the point of Fakir’s research now?

“I guess I’d been hoping…” Fakir clapped the second tome closed between flat palms. “...You were so closely tied to Tutu. I really need ideas still. For you.” Now he avoided Duck’s gaze as he set the second book aside and returned to the first, propped up by his elbows as he stared blankly at the pages.

“Quaaaa…” Duck gazed forelornly at the secretly sulking Fakir. Of course that was it. She should have guessed it before, but he had actually come here to research other things in the past. Because of that, she thought maybe he had given up on his idea of making her human once more. She bumped her head against his arm, nuzzling against it.

Fakir glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, then returned his stare to the book. “Well, when you do come back as a human, you’re going to need some kind of backstory. Probably not royalty, but… a place to be from, family to have in your past.”

Still Duck kept nuzzling him, attempting to comfort him, attempting to help him remember. Even though he did have a quill and inkwell on the table, she didn’t want to retrieve it to try and communicate with him.

Fakir sighed, finally turning his head towards her. “...You really are still happy as a duck?”

“Quack.” Duck nodded.

“...Would you be happy as a human, too?”

Duck paused, staring at him for a good long while. Slowly, she nodded again.

“...Is it selfish of me to try and make you human again? When you’re happy like this?”

Duck shook her head insistently. “Quack.” Now she curled her feet in and nuzzled more against his arm. Hopefully that conveyed enough to him that she was just happy being with him, no matter the form. Even though she didn’t understand why Fakir needed reassurance constantly of this fact, Duck was more than happy to keep reminding him of that.

That broke his lips into a slight smile. Fakir stroked her head with gentle fingers. “You’re too giving for your own good sometimes. Just like Tutu.” Duck quacked with some annoyance, which made Fakir chuckle. “But you’re also sweet and care about others. That’s still good overall.”

With a nod, Duck closed her eyes with a smile, nestled against him as best she could be. She quacked a soft, tender sound.

Fakir paused as if he were about to respond verbally, but instead he stroked her head again and planted a quick kiss atop the fluffy feathers again. Duck quacked again very happily with that as Fakir returned to his research.

The small bird probably stayed in that position for about a good five minutes before getting bored again and hopping onto his lap to rest there, ignoring any annoyance from Fakir at how she could hardly hold still. Duck knew that both him and her preferred it his way. She always preferred to be with him over anywhere else, whether he was writing at the lake or researching something as difficult to find as Tutu’s royal origins.


End file.
